Eren's P.O.V
"Come on Eren! Wake up!"With a yelp and a jump, I was a jumbled mess on the floor, and I groaned as Mr Smith slammed the door.
The puppy shot up in alert and looked around before running towards me and showering my face in licks. I giggled and did my routine before sprinting down the hall, and making it to the meeting hall in two minutes and fifteen seconds.
I left the dog in my room, and he was happily munching on half of my breakfast when I left. I entered the room as quietly as I could and blended into the crowd of other maids and servants.
"... you two," he pointed to Historia and Ymir in the front of the group. "laundry duty." They both smiled and bowed."Petra, as usual, you'll be in charge of bringing the meals to the royal family," I looked over at Petra, and she had a smirk on her face. She was probably excited about the prince.
"Wait a minute..." Mr Smith trailed off, and I snapped my attention back to him, feeling myself getting full of curiosity. He was squinting his eyes, seemingly not believing what he was reading."Um... right. Petra, you will be delivering the meals to the royal family per usual." Petra breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Except for Prince Levi." Mr Smith finished.
I had to try my best not to fall on the floor and die of laughter at Petra's face. She was a mix between horrified and confused, and let me just say it did not suit her."He has requested a servant other than Petra. Eren," He said my name, and I turned to hear what my chore was. "you are in charge of the dishes, but since that's one of the easier jobs, I'll have you bring him his meals for the week."I almost fainted.
I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I am so freaking dead she's going to kill me!
Sweat rolled down my face as Petra shot me a glare that could kill even the strongest of soldiers. She looked insane. Probably because she was.
-+~•~+-
I walked down the hall while holding the tray of food, and looked down at it. It was a tray made of pure silver and the handles were adorned with rubies and emeralds. The actual food was... it was so fancy I didn't even know what it was! All I know is that it looked really weird. There were crispy brown strips of meat next to a weird yellow substance that looked like it had been throw up and a hard piece of bread with blueberries in it and pieces of sugar on the top. I felt myself mentally drool at the thought of eating this stuff. I've never really had anything that wasn't what I like to call 'slop'. It's what I eat for every meal of the day and it's filled with nutrients but it tastes like soggy oatmeal. Stupid posh people.
I reached the huge study that the prince was rumoured to lock himself in and spend weeks at a time inside before knocking lightly."Come in." A deep muffled voice said from inside. I took in a very deep breath and gingerly opened the door with my head down. My hair shadowed my face and I spoke no words as I set his meal down in front of him. With a sigh of relief, he looked at the food. "Thank Maria you're not Petra. That girl is the most annoying woman I have ever crossed paths with." I can relate.
"What was that?" He asked, seemingly bored. Oh, Maria, I said that out loud! "N-Nothing your highness," I mumbled, and he raised a slim black eyebrow.
My hair fell in front om my face, and I quickly swiped it out of my eyes. He furrowed his brows and his steel-blue eyes clouded over with curiosity and amusement ."Look at me." He said, clearly waiting for something.
Dang it dang it dang it dang it dang it dang it I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead
"I'm waiting, brat." He said clearly getting fed up, and I fumbled my hands together before looking up. He stared into my green eyes while I watched his cold grey-blue ones inspecting my face before he gave me another smirk. Or at least that's what I thought it was. I'm not sure.
"You're that servant from yesterday. Eren, correct?" He asked as he rested his head in his palm, a small smirk still plastered on his face. I gulped as sweat rolled down my four head. With a small nod, I looked back to the floor.
"Well then..." he trailed off as if in thought. He stared at me for what felt like a lifetime, and I started to feel like my legs were going to give out at any moment when he spoke.
"Why'd you save the mutt?" He asked, clearly wanting to know why. His question made me freeze entirely and I looked up at him. I stared at him for a moment before the sentence formed in my head, and the words just flew off my tongue like second nature.
"Because human or not, all living things deserve to live," I said, quoting my adoptive mother who passed years back. He tilted his head, confused and curious. I felt my face heat up once again and I didn't look down. I continued to look into his steel eyes, which were almost the same colour as his sword. But they were still quite beautiful.
wait, What?! no, I'm meant umm...
"You are dismissed." He said cutting off my thoughts, before he looked down at his papers once more, forgetting I have even existed. I gave a quick bow and turned around before walking out of the room as fast as physically possible.
-+~•~+-
With careful hands, I carried Prince Levi's tray to his room after what left like years of dishwashing.
I kept my posture straight even though I felt my back slowly start collapsing in on itself from being hunched over the sink, and I could barely feel anything with my worn-out fingers. Again, I barely knew what I was bringing to Prince Levi, but it looked mouth-watering delicious. I knew that the side was a salad, but what kind, I had no idea. Not only that, but his entree was a dozen thin slices of chicken decorated with various seasoning and other things of the sort and finally adorned with some type of dressing. A Chinese gravy boat sat on the side and his drink was an empty glass filled to the brim with ice, and a pitcher sat next to it, waiting to be poured into the waterless cup. I took in another shaky breath as I knocked on the door carefully once more.
"Come in." The familiar voice said, and I pushed open the door. With my head facing down, as usual, I set the tray down carefully next to the one I had brought this morning, which looked untouched. I lifted the pitcher and slowly poured the water into the glass, careful not to spill any before carefully setting it down on the tray again. He must really be involved in his studies. I wonder what he actually does study...But there is no way I'm asking.
He turned to look at me through the corner of his eye, and I averted my gaze to the pile of paperwork set neatly on a small desk that stood beside a cushiony chair."Take the first tray." He demanded, his eyes trained on the book and the paper and quill in front of him. I nodded quickly and grabbed it by the handles before turning around.
"Wait a second." He said, and I turned around, caught off guard."What's your last name?" He asked, and I stiffened."I d...um..." I mumbled, and he raised an eyebrow."Sorry, I didn't know this was a whisper competition. Speak up, Brat!" He demanded, and I swallowed hard."I don't know." I repeated, and he shook his head.
"'I don't know' isn't a last name or the proper answer." He said, and I realized I had peaked his interests. "Now what do you mean by 'I don't know'?" He asked again, wanting the answer now. "I-I was adopted when I was a child, and my adoptive m-mother grew sick and passed away a few years later, so I was forced to come to the palace to live in the custody of Mr Smith. My real last name was never discovered." I said, almost as if I had said it thousands of times before. He furrowed his brows and folded his fingers over each other before placing his elbows on the desk. "So you mean to tell me you don't know who your parents are?" He asked, and I nodded quickly, my mood becoming dull and sad. He nodded once before picking the quill out of the ink and returning to his studies."You are dismissed." He dully said, losing interest in me once more.
I quickly bowed before opening the large oak door and walking down the hallway in a hurry. I felt my eyes tingle and something slides down my cheek. I balanced the tray on my right hand and felt my face before pulling my fingers away, revealing a tear."Huh. I'm crying." I said, not really realizing this earlier. Yet I was unaware of the smirking strawberry-blonde lurking behind the corner.
-+~•~+-
I knocked on the study doors for what was thankfully the final time today, and he again answered with, "Come in."
I opened the door once more and saw that his lunch also seemed untouched. I frowned at all the leftover food before setting his dinner down on the desk, which was steak with a side of mashed potatoes and another salad as well as some black tea."So, they left you on the streets, huh?" He asked, and I whipped around, my hair flying all over the place.
"What's it like?" He asked as I messed with the bottom of my shirt. "Well," I took in a shaky breath. "It's not that bad I suppose, but there are a lot of thieves. Other than that, it's pretty ok." I said uneasily, knowing that he had absolutely no experience outside of his previous castle and fancy meals. When I looked back up at him, he was studying every inch of my face, as if actually seeing me for the first time. I took this time to also studied his face. His dark, midnight black hair, cold greyish-blue eyes that could ignite any girl's or guy's heart, pale skin as white as the snow on the ground in mid-winter with sharp features that could be cute one moment and deathly threatening the next, but that was all I could see before his hands covered the rest.
"Your Highness," I started, and he made a 'hm' sound. "I-if you don't mind, I have a question of my own," I stated, and he chuckled? (I wasn't quite sure since it wasn't something that happened often)."What?" He asked, already predicting what I was going to ask. But apparently, I caught him off guard. "A-Are you gonna finish that?" I asked as I stared at his untouched lunch, drool forming at the corners of my mouth as I imagined what it would taste like and fill my stomach.
"You really are a strange brat, aren't you?" He replied as stared into my bright green eyes with his own cold steel ones. I felt myself shrink backwards and flush red. Then as if things couldn't get any more embarrassing, my stomach made a sound that was almost like the groan of a dying whale. This caused my entire face to go bright red, if possible. I sighed and looked back up at him, my eyes pleading with me when my mouth couldn't form any words. He stared at me for quite some time before growling."Fine. Whatever." He finished. "You are dismissed."
"Thank you thank you thank you!" I exclaimed as I bowed and grabbed the lunch tray before practically exploding out of the door. He grumbled something about 'worthless brat', but I was too happy with my new found lunch to be paying attention.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------